American Football: NFL Week 14 picks

The Steelers host the New York Jets with a chance to take the AFC North Division title with a win. The Jets have never won here, losing all five
meetings, and, of course, Steelers rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has yet to lose, compiling a 10-0 record since becoming the starter. The Jets
have allowed the fewest points in the NFL (175), but will not have Pro Bowl defensive end John Abraham, who is expected to miss two weeks with a
sprained right knee ligament.

The Steelers will certainly look to wear down the Jets with the tandem of Duce Staley and Jerome Bettis. While New York has the league's leading
rusher in Curtis Martin (1,305 yards) and LaMont Jordan, who is averaging 5.4 yards per carry. The Steelers have yielded 184 points and are first in
the league against the run. The Jets rushed for more than 200 yards in a game for the third time this season in last week's 29-7 win over Houston.

This is a tough matchup this week.

TRD's Prediction: Steelers

New York Giants (5-7) at Baltimore Ravens (7-5)

This season, the Giants are having the same kind of meltdown under coach Tom Coughlin. They enter Sunday on a five-game losing streak - the low point
coming last week in a 31-7 loss to the Washington Redskins. Yet in the weak NFC, the Giants are bunched with six teams, one game behind Seattle for
the last wild-card spot. Three of the losses in the streak have come since Coughlin handed the quarterback job to Manning, who has completed just 42
per cent (35-of-83) of his passes for 423 yards with four interceptions and just one touchdown.

The Ravens are hoping to snap a two-game losing streak. Their defence had a rare breakdown last week, allowing 24 points in the fourth quarter of a
27-26 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Ravens had been 35-0 under Billick when holding a 14-point lead, but blew a 17-point advantage against the
Bengals. Baltimore are tied with Denver for the last AFC wild-card spot, two games behind the New York Jets, who hold the first wild card position.

With two tough games comming up next for the Ravens this game is a must win.

TRD's Prediction: Ravens

Miami Dolphins (2-10) at Denver Broncos (7-5)

The Denver Broncos, coming off a pair of disappointing losses, aim to get back on the winning track against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. Two weeks
ago, the Broncos endured a last-second defeat to the Oakland Raiders here. And last week, they committed costly mistakes in a 20-17 loss at San Diego.
Now, instead of being tied with San Diego on top of the AFC West, Denver are tied with Baltimore for the final wild-card spot.

The Dolphins were plagued by turnovers last week as they committed seven in a 42-32 loss to Buffalo. They have 35 turnovers this season. AJ Feeley
threw for a career-high 303 yards with three touchdowns, but was intercepted five times against Buffalo.

Denver will be looking to get the win here in a must win game.

TRD's Prediction: Denver

Seattle Seahawks (6-6) at Minnesota Vikings (7-5)

The Seahawks have little to no defense to speak of and seem to have every key linebacker on the roster injured. The Vikings on the other hand are
continuing the late-season freefall they seem to have perfected over the years. The Seahawks look to avoid their third straight loss on Sunday when
they meet the Vikings in a pivotal game for both teams in the NFC play-off race. The Vikings won their first six games last season, only to miss the
play-offs. The Seahawks won their first three games this season, but now find themselves at the .500 mark. Seattle are tied for first place in the NFC
West with the St Louis Rams, but would be the second wild card based on two losses to division rivals. Minnesota are tied with Green Bay in the North,
but also would be relegated to a wild-card spot.

Last Monday night, the Seahawks rallied from a 15-point deficit, then squandered a 10-point lead with under two minutes remaining in a shocking 43-39
loss to Dallas. Seattle have surrendered 81 points in its last two games. It could be another challenge here against the duo of Daunte Culpepper and
Randy Moss, who pace the NFL's third-ranked offence. It also has been another struggle for the Vikings, who have lost four of their last six games
following a 5-1 start. Last week, Culpepper threw three interceptions in a disappointing 24-14 loss at Chicago. Moss also was quiet, catching four
passes for 31 yards while losing a fumble.

hasselback is doing ok, his recievers are notoriously fumble fingered, seeming to drop as many as they catch, the running game is ok with alexander
having a good year, the defense has been the problem, with missed assignments, injuries, and a problem stopping any kind of ground game, they haven't
been the same team since they blew the game to st louis in week 4

i forget who i picked but the only one i'm sure of is the Vikes over the Seahawks. i'll take my upset game with Miami over Denver by 21. i didn't get
to do any research on the games this week because i'm busy getting ready for Vegas (i leave sunday morning). i'll be back to spending hours
researching the games and picking incorrectly next week.

Originally posted by TRD
With that method of picking games is that why you are doing so well in the pick-em?

Yeah, I stopped picking as many upsets as I was earlier in the season, it's been working, just ask skyrat....

Care to make a breakdown as to why and who is gonna win or not?

Alright, you wanna make me do some thinking here, after the night I had??? Here goes the mini-me version -

Redskins over Eagles I have money on this one, so they gotta pull it off. Surprisingly, the 'skins aren't totally out of the playoff hunt, if
they win out, in the weak NFC, they should be in.

Atlanta over Oakland Oakland plain sucks. Kerry Collins unfortunately isn't that much of a leader on the field, as my cousin always makes a
point to tell me. Easy pick.

Buffalo over Cleveland OK, had to think about this one a little. So I took out a coin and flipped it. But, since Cleveland doesn't have the
same head coach that they started with, I'm leaning towards the Bills. I like Robiski, though, I think he did a decent job with the situation they
stuck him with in DC several years back.

New Orleans over Dallas Just because it's Dallas.

Jacksonville over Chicago Are you kidding me? The Jags should be all over them!

Baltimore over the Giants Just because they are the Giants.

Indy over Houston Manning gets to within one TD of the record. Carr will have more interceptions than TD's by the end of the day.

Minnesota over the Seahawks In a battle of teams that have given up, they both never come out of the locker room after the half. We find out
later they were playing each other in Madden's x-box game. Ironically, the Seattle players won, but the were Minnesota on Madden. And they even won
the Super Bowl...

NE over Cincy ?

Denver over Miami ??

Pittsburgh over the Jets Alright, another thinker. But, since Big Ben hasn't lost yet, I'm going with this guy.

Carolina over St Louis Carolina seems to think that they can get to the Super Bowl without Stephen Davis. They're wrong, but, they'll win
this weekend.

Originally posted by toejam
this is the week that you could either catch skyrat or make it tough with only a few weeks left....i think the vikes will beat the seahawks, i could
run for 100 yards against their defense

I'll at least make a good run at her. I'm afraid my upsets that didn't happen earlier in the season will prevent me from catching up with the rest of
ya'll.

Good Lord... I went to the Jags official web site to try and dig up some dirt on them... That was the worst web site I've evr been to... You can't
even find what their record is!!!

I dunno... I'm going with my gut here again... The Bears have a chance to make the playoffs for the first time in like a decade if they keep
winning. If they play half as well against the Jags as they did against the Vikes last week I think they'll come out with a win.

My gut lost big time last week... But I'm going to give it another chance in this one.

Not really an easy week to pick as Gibbs is trying to make us think, all games this time of year are a bit more intense. Hey Gibbs, if it's such easy
pickin' this week then what were you smoking when you picked the Saints over the Cowboys?

Anyway, here are my 3 picks that you can take to the bank.........

New Orleans @ Dallas - The Aints travel to Big D with their 32nd ranked defense against the hottest RB in football right now. I see
Julius Jones posting his 3rd straight 150+ yard performance against the pourous defense. The Dallas defense has improved and should shut down Aaron
Brook's inconsistent offense.

Cowboys 27-21

St Louis @ Carolina - The Rams limp into North Carolina with Chandler and Arlen Harris playing the parts of Bulger and Faulk. If the
Rams had any defense to speak of they might have a chance, but, they don't. Should be another monster game for Mushin Muhammed.

Panthers 31-24

NY Giants @ Baltimore - The Ravens have to be awfully angry after their ferocious defense blew a 4th quarter lead against the Bengals
last week and they get to take that out on a rookie QB. I think it'll be a long day for the little Manning as the Ravens get enough offense to beat
the G-Men at home.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.